Energy - what's the problem?
Published: 18 Nov 2021
In 2020, the UK sourced more electricity from renewables than from fossil fuels.
And in Wales, 51% of Wales’ electricity consumption came from renewable sources in 2019.
However, electricity and heat generation still accounted for 19% of Welsh emissions in 2019 making it the second largest emitting sector (page 56).
In their recent Net Zero Wales plan, the Welsh Government state that ‘From 2021 there will be no new build unabated fossil fuel generation in Wales. All current unabated gas generation removed from the system by 2035.’ (Page 59)
Whilst the Welsh Government have made progress over the last few years on reducing emissions from this sector, on renewable energy, tackling fuel poverty in some areas, effectively banning fracking, their Smart Living Initiative, and saying no to new coal mines in Wales, there still remains much to be done.
The Welsh Government’s current target is for 70% of electricity to come from renewable energy by 2030.
One important aspect however that often gets overlooked is demand reduction, simply reducing the amount of energy we need.
If we can reduce demand across the board then we will also reduce the amount of energy we have to produce in the first place and reduce emissions too.
How we produce heat, how we plan energy networks, how we store the energy we produce, how we address difficult to decarbonise sectors and many other issues will determine whether we can actually achieve our ambitions on reaching a ‘net-zero’ status as soon as possible.
Other technologies such as nuclear and hydrogen have their supporters but with renewable energy cheaper, faster to build, and cleaner than nuclear power, Friends of the Earth opposes the development of new nuclear power stations.
Hydrogen has a role to play in certain sectors such as some heavy industry but caution is needed and it is not necessarily the silver bullet many proclaim. See Friends of the Earth’s briefing for more detail.
It is absolutely vital that we continue to play our part in reducing the amount of energy we use and moving towards even more renewables.
Globally, Project Drawdown estimates that:
200.6–440.2 Gigatons of CO2 Equivalent could be reduced or sequestered in the period 2020-2050 by a mix of enhancing efficiency (reducing demand), shifting production (from fossil fuels to renewables) improving the electricity system in terms of flexible grids and effective energy storage.